Now, old gang war comes to the fore

LUCKNOW: After a two-day probe, investigators believe that the sensational shootout in Vikas Nagar late on Saturday night was carried out to financially damage the gang of incarcerated gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi.

Cops also apprehend another shootout might take place soon in eastern UP to destroy Bajrangi’s financial and political aspirations.

Bajrangi’s brother-in-law Pushpjeet Singh and his friend Sanjay Mishra were killed in the shootout at Sector 3, Vikas Nagar.

Investigators say that Pushpjeet was managing Bajrangi’s accounts and other financial issues. “The details of money collected from different people was found in a diary recovered from Pushpjeet’s car in which he was travelling when two motorcycle-borne assailants gunned him down on Saturday night,” said Rajesh Pandey, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow.

Pandey admitted t hat Pushpjeet’ elimination would hit the gang badly.

The investigators also say that Bajrangi’s gang has become financially weak after his arrest from Mumbai in October 2009. But his gang has been actively generating money through extortion, securing tenders of railways and other departments for contractors and involvement in property disputes.

“During a l ong stay i n Sultanpur jail, Bajrangi started generating money to make his gang financially strong to hit back at his arch rival and UP’s most infamous don, Brijesh Singh. Bajrangi’s efforts to earn fast money also led to some sensational murders of contractors and local politicians in Sultanpur, Jaunpur and Varanasi,” said a senior official associated with the investigation.

He further said that Bajrangi was transferred to Jhansi jail recently as state agencies had inputs about his activities.

The senior cop said that Bajrangi also has political aspirations for his wife Seema Singh and he has made her active from Madiahu Assembly constituency in Jaunpur. According to the senior official, the murder of BSP leader Ram Bihar Chaubey in Varanasi in December 2015 was also the fallout of Bajrangi’s political aspirations as the former was opposed to Seema’s political debut.

He said that a political party had even finalised the ticket of Bajrangi’s wife from the same constituency for 2017 Assembly polls. And Pushpjeet was also managing the political finances Seema, who stayed with him in Lucknow.